The Saga of the Plain Brown Box
by Libek
Summary: Post-series. Kanda gives Lenalee a birthday present for the first time.


Lenalee tilted her head to the side, considering.

It was really very innocent-looking, plain and unremarkable: a small wooden box, unvarnished and unwrapped, not even tied shut with string. She had received a dozen birthday presents already that day, and this looked nothing like them. Not like Allen's cheery paper and bright ribbons (German chocolates) or her brother's multitude of expensive matte boxes (new dresses and designer hats, overcompensating like always). Not even like the simple card Lavi -- _Bookman_ -- had sent from wherever he was living these days.

Still, she knew a birthday present when she saw one -- and she knew who had left it on her bureau for her to find at the end of the day, after the cake he hadn't tasted and the song he hadn't joined.

Lenalee reached out, gingerly, and the naked wood grain was rough under her fingertips. She almost didn't want to open it. In all the years she had known him, this was the first time he'd ever gotten her anything for her birthday.

Which probably wasn't something many other girls could say about their friends, but Kanda was Kanda, and she had long-since given up expecting him to be anything else.

Besides, she sort of -- liked him, just the way he was.

After a moment, Lenalee set the box back on her bureau and turned her back on it, changing quickly into her pajamas. Maybe she wouldn't open it at all: that would certainly serve him right, after years of ignoring her birthday. Nineteen wasn't such a special number, not a benchmark for Japan or China or anywhere else that she could think of.

But instead of working herself up to a proper indignant huff, Lenalee found that these thoughts were only making her more curious about the contents of the box. What had changed recently? What had made him decide to help her celebrate _this_ birthday?

And what kind of thing would Kanda think made a good birthday present? At least she knew the box was too small to hold a sword.

Slowly, Lenalee went back for his gift and picked it up. Only one way to find out. It was late, but she thought she knew where to find him.

*

The training rooms were mainly used for storage these days, and Lenalee wasn't sure how anyone could have carved enough space out to work in comfortably with boxes on all sides, but... maybe Kanda felt at home there. Surrounded by projects the science department had abandoned and molding paperwork, he was a weapon of war after the end of the war, still training himself for battles he would never fight.

It was a lonely thought, and Lenalee made a mental note to work some training into her own schedule, too. Their work for the Black Order might not require it any longer, but staying in shape had never hurt anyone--

She paused in the doorway.

Kanda was in the middle of a _kata_, slowly drawing his favored practice sword back to his chest, thrusting it at an invisible enemy and then dodging back two steps to avoid an imagined blow. Either he hadn't noticed her intrustion or he was ignoring it; with his back turned to her, she couldn't be sure which.

He was also naked to the waist, unhindered by loose dark slacks and barefoot on the _tatami_ floor. Lenalee could see the sheen of sweat on his skin as muscle slid over shoulder blade with his every fluid movement. The room was silent except for his soft, slightly-labored breathing.

Suddenly she was very aware of her thin silk pajamas and her bare arms.

"I just came to thank you for the gift," she blurted, looking away. "I really appreciate it."

What she could still see of Kanda didn't falter. "Tch. Don't be an idiot," he said, and some of the odd tension in her belly eased.

Lenalee felt her lips quirking and dared to look at him again. "All I said was thank you," she pointed out.

"And you shouldn't have." Kanda brought his sword arm down in a graceful ark and added, "Not like that, anyway. It makes it sound like you don't think you deserved it."

So ridiculous. Her smile widened, very slightly. "It makes it sound like I _liked_ it."

Kanda snorted in response and finished his _kata_ before he finally turned to face her, the wooden sword coming to rest on his shoulder. "And?"

"And what?"

"_Did_ you like it?"

His gaze was intense and again Lenalee was aware of his skin. Her eyes had a mind of their own, and she could feel how much they wanted to drift below his face, linger on the lithe muscle of his chest. It wasn't the first time she had seen a man without his shirt on -- the hospital wing had been full of them, bandaged and otherwise, only a year ago. Kanda had been among them often enough.

But this felt... different. _Why_ hadn't she changed out of her pajamas again before coming down here?

"You've never gotten me anything before," Lenalee forced herself to say, averting her eyes for the second time. "Why this year?"

Silence. It lasted so long that at first she thought he wasn't going to answer at all.

Then Kanda murmured, "Because," and his voice was startlingly close to her ear, his scent heavy in the air, his _warmth_ on her skin even though he hadn't touched her. "It's over now. And you're still alive."

Oh, God.

The tension in her belly was back and worse than ever, twisting in almost painful knots, and Lenalee found her lips numb, her heart beating hard enough to crack her ribs. When had he gotten so close to her? She wanted to look up, meet his eyes, and if she did she knew they would almost certainly--

But he was walking past her, into the hallway. Her skin ached a little where he hadn't touched her.

"Open it," Kanda said over his shoulder, and left her there.

She didn't move at all at first, only stood there blinking in the dim light. She felt -- relieved; disappointed; still somehow excited. What a jerk, she found herself thinking numbly, but she knew she was smiling.

Lenalee opened the box.


End file.
